


All the Fears Will Pass

by DawnsEternalLight



Series: All These Things Will Grow [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman and Robin (Comics)
Genre: Acid, Comfort, Cuddles, Damian Wayne is Robin, Dick Grayson is Batman, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Poison Ivy - Freeform, snuggles, toxic plants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-01 19:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19184248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DawnsEternalLight/pseuds/DawnsEternalLight
Summary: Damian's first patrol encounter with Ivy doesn't go quiet as expected.





	All the Fears Will Pass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FidotheFinch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FidotheFinch/gifts).



It started with Ivy. Damian had heard much about the woman, but had not come across her often, and never as Robin. He had been trained to react to her tricks, and told what to look out for when fighting her, but so far he had not been allowed out in the field when she was active. Grayson had an irritating habit of keeping Damian back when a rouge was causing trouble.

Tonight though, they were well into patrol when Oracle called them with the news. Ivy had transformed the ground laid for a new upscale apartment complex into a miniature jungle. Grayson hesitated moving, his face set in a line that seemed to wonder if Damian would listen to a command to go home or not.

“We are ten minutes away from her by car.” Damian said, attempting to make Grayson’s decision for him, “If you send me home it will take you twice as long even using grapples to arrive.”

Grayson’s jaw tightened further, his lips pressing together, “You’ll listen to everything I have to say, and you’ll go in wearing a protective face mask. We have no idea what she might have loosed into the air and I doubt she’s prepared for a--” Grayson hesitated, “someone of your size.”

Damian appreciated the aversion to the world child. It signaled that Grayson was taking their partnership seriously and that he was coming to respect Damian’s abilities as a fighter.

“Of course.” Damian said, trying not to sound too eager, “It is important to be prepared for someone as dangerous as her.”

“Right.” Grayson said, “Just, be on your toes, okay?”

It would be a lie to say that Damian was not a little bit excited to go into the fight. He had been trained to deal with enemies more competent than the low level thugs and drug dealers they faced on a regular basis. Even busy, hard nights felt like he wasn’t living up to his potential.

This would be his chance to prove himself to Grayson. To show him just what he had been trained to do. To prove that he deserved the mantle of Robin. It was invigorating, the chance to finally do something more.

Ivy’s jungle was obvious long before Grayson pulled the car into a park in front of it. It was strange to see it so close to Gotham’s harbor, green rising up against the dark, still, water.

The jungle rose from the ground in towering trees strung with vines. The closer they got, the more colors Damian saw. The greens were as varied as the plants crowding the once flat piece of land. Bright yellows, reds, and oranges bloomed across the plants, with whites dotted through them.

It was beautiful, and completely out of place at the same time.The collection of plants was totally different than anything Damian had known before, either in Gotham or back with Mother.

He couldn’t help but wonder what Ivy had done to grow such a collection of plants in as short a time as the few days it had taken her to overgrow the land. He understood she had knowledge abilities in tune with plant life, but he had not realized the extent of it before now.

“Stay close.” Grayson said, as they moved into the miniature jungle, adjusting his own clear face mask, “Nothing with Ivy is as it seems.”

“Tt. I know.” Grayson had drilled that information into Damian’s head as thoroughly as Damian’s sword fighting teacher had drilled proper footing.

If he had been considering breaking off to investigate on his own he released that idea as they moved through the jungle. Everything felt tight and overgrown and hot, especially compared to the open, crisp, air outside.

The plants felt like they were closing in on them as they moved. Damian kept looking at them, and wondered if maybe they were moving, growing closer. He thought he had known what Grayson had been talking about when he’d gone over previous battles with Ivy, but Damian was no longer sure he understood. This was different than he had imagined, and it unnerved him.

Not that he was going to show that. He was an Al-Ghul. Robin. The son of Batman himself. Plants would not scare him, nor would a plant wielding woman.

A vine dropped from a branch above them and wrapped around Damian’s waist. He did not yelp, the sound was simply pulled from him as the vine attempted to yank him off his feet.

Grayson moved in an instant, grabbing Damian by the waist, just above the vine, and hacking at it with a batarang. Damian dropped into Grayson’s arms as the vine went slack. He was thankful for his domino as he was set down, wide eyed.

“Glad you stayed close.” Grayson said, grinning at him.

“Behind you!” Damian said, pointing as a second vine came swooping for Batman.

Grayson spun, lashing out at the vine with the batarang still in his hand. The vine curled away and Grayson took off deeper into the jungle, with a “Follow me!” to Damian.

He didn’t hesitate to follow, bolting to keep up with his partner. It made sense, search out the source of the trouble instead of wasting their energy on fighting off plants that would just keep coming.

Damian would not admit that he was happier running than walking or standing around. It somehow felt safer, like he would not be plucked up again by some unknown thing that should not move or attack.

It was unnerving, having plants act as if they had their own minds and wills. He was used to humans, he understood how they moved and acted. He could anticipate what they might do and defend against it. This? He had little hope of figuring out. The best Damian could hope for was to be hyper-vigilant and catch movement before it happened.

They found Ivy surrounded by huge, oversized, plants of all kinds of types. Huge green and pinkish red bulbs hung from thick vines, larger than normal orchid like flowering plants stood close to those. There were green and white striped bell plants that looked a little like a Pokemon from the game Grayson insisted Damian play.

Ivy stood at the center of it all, petting what had to be the biggest Venus fly trap Damian had ever seen. It was closer to the size of a person than a plant.

Everything in that area felt like it could swallow Damian if he got too close. He set his feet next to Grayson and prepared himself for a fight.

Large plants or not he had a job to do, and a Batman to back up. He couldn’t let the strangeness of all this take away from his skills. This was his chance to prove himself after all, to show Grayson he was worthy.

Mother would be disappointed in him for reacting as he had already. He was supposed to be able to handle anything, even plants that moved on their own. It was weakness to allow something odd to throw him off the way he had. Moving plants should be no different than assassins coming for him in his sleep, or being tasked to climb a mountain to retrieve a relic.

“A jungle, really, Ivy?” Grayson said, putting his hands on his hips, “Gotham’s climate isn’t the most conducive to these plants. I thought you’d know that.”

She glared at him, the look much like that Damian had seen on vipers, sharp and poisonous, “Gotham’s climate is enough to kill any of my darlings.” she caressed the fly trap, “I am trying to make the city, and by extension, the world better.”

“You can’t do that by taking over land that’s not yours.” Dick motioned to the plants around them.

Ivy scoffed, “Do you know how much destruction this company has caused?”

“Enough of this babble.” Damian snapped, the woman was starting to sound too much like his Grandfather for his tastes, one could not cause good, permanent, change through destruction, “This conversation will go nowhere.”

“Your Robin is right, Batman, my mind is made up.” With that, Ivy stepped back from the fly trap.

It jumped forward, extending its stem towards them to bite, faster and more vicious than Damian had ever seen a plant of its type move. He and Grayson dove to opposite sides as the other large plants began to move.

Vines attempted to loop around Damian’s ankles and waist again, and he saw Ivy flick green mist towards Grayson. His brother had been correct in having them both take the precaution of protective masks.

Batman clashed with Ivy while Damian hacked at the various plants trying to prevent him from joining his partner. He was happy Grayson had allowed him to bring his sword to this battle, it was proving to be a great aid in helping him move forward.

Damian froze as the fly trap managed to catch Batman’s cape and fling him into a tree, the trunk thudding with impact, causing leaves to rain down on the lump that was Grayson. He jumped forward, doubling his efforts to meet his partner and prevent Ivy from reaching him first.

He leapt over a crashing vine, and sliced a reaching orchid in half to slide in front of his partner, sword at the ready to protect him while he recovered from his daze.

Damian threw himself at Ivy as she charged towards them, snakes of her namesake tangling in the air ahead of her in a wave of plant matter. He cut through it and swung at the woman. His blade hit the teeth of the fly trap, moving to protect its mistress, crashing against them with more force than Damian had imagined they might have.

It snapped down on his sword and wrenched it from his grasp, just as a vine managed to catch his ankle. He was torn from his feet and swung up into the air, his stomach jumping into his throat with the movement, and his vision going sideways as his world literally turned upside down.

He swallowed down the way his heart wanted to speed up at being in the grasp of something he did not understand and fumbled for a batarang, flicking open the pocket of his belt containing them. A second vine caught his arms, pinning them to his sides, and the whole collection of batarangs slipped from his open pocket to tumble to the ground. Damian thrashed against the vine holding him tight and tried to blink away the spots filling his vision from being upside down.

Grayson pulled himself to his feet, hand to his head. He hadn’t seemed to notice Damian’s predicament yet. But Ivy had caught onto his awakening.

“Batman, look out!” Damian yelled, in time for Grayson to dodge a blow from Ivy.

He struggled against the vines and watched as Grayson resumed his fight against Ivy. This was insane, he should be able to escape _plants_. He had survived far worse than a vine attempting to keep him from his brother’s side.

Damian’s hand wiggled out from under one of the vines and he thought he might be able to reach his pouch of acid to burn away at the vines, if only he could get enough movement in his arm.

“Let’s see how good a multitasker you are, Batman.” Ivy said.

Damian found himself moving, dragged from where he’d been suspended, down into the gaping mouth of one of the huge belled plants. He squirmed, trying everything he could to get away, to prevent himself from being swallowed whole by a plant created by this madwoman.

The vines dropped him inside and the mouth closed over him, locking Damian in darkness. It was disgusting, sticky, and _burning_. Some part of the muck he was in felt like acid, sizzling and acrid.

Damian tried to scramble up from where he’d landed, still upside down and crumpled. At his movement, the plant closed in around him, and a number of long and stringy things wrapped around him, pulling him closer to the bottom of the bell.

It was hot. Suffocatingly so, and even through his mask he could smell something sharp and acidic. The sticky acid in the plant was already burning at his face and the bit of skin exposed on his neck.

Damian could smell it, smell the way whatever acid inside the plant was eating away at his uniform. He thrashed, trying to jerk away from the tendrils and the thick, burning liquid around him. Everything squeezed tighter, holding him that much more firmly in place.

His heart rate sped up, he couldn’t breathe, even with the mask on his face. Everything was too tight, too close, too much. His arms and chest were starting to burn now, patches aching and on fire. He yelled, a panicked terrified scream, and kicked out against the interior of the bell.

Nothing was working. Grayson was still outside, still fighting Ivy. She would try to keep him away as long as possible, she may even throw him in another one of these terrible plants. And Damian couldn’t do anything to stop it. He couldn’t do anything to save his Batman. Not trapped her in this, this, _thing_.

His head was foggy, light with terror and pain, and something else. Belatedly he realized he could now taste the air around him, the sour acrid flavor hot on his tongue. He tried to raise an arm to check his mask, but the tendrils holding it yanked down, keeping him from moving much more than an inch.

He wanted out. He did not wish to be smothered and eaten by some carnivorous plant that should not exist. He wanted to break free of the tightness and the darkness and fall back out into the relative light of Ivy’s false jungle.

This was supposed to be his chance. His opportunity to show Grayson he could handle himself against a tougher foe, and he had failed. He had failed and he was going to die here. And he--he--He kicked again and felt his boot split, burning acid slipping in through the tear in it.

Damian yelped at the new biting sensation and kicked, again and again, furious and terrified, and wanting anything but this, this strange terrible monster of a creation. He had not been prepared to deal with Ivy. Not been prepared for the living plants she created and the way it unsettled him.

Something thick, thicker than the tendrils around him, grabbed his shoulders and pulled at him. Damian yelled and tried to jerk away from it. The blackness inside the plant had given way to murky light, revealing whatever had grabbed him as black and long.

It tugged again, tearing Damian away from the inside of the plant and up, back into the fresher air of the false jungle. It was huge, looming and black, with jagged ends close to its top. Probably some kind of mouth, designed to snatch and swallow prey.

Had Ivy grown tired of tormenting him with one plant only to trade it for something worse?

Damian pushed at the thing holding him, kicking and flailing. Where was Grayson? Surely he would save him if he was out of the plant. Or was this some kind of vision brought on by the toxins in the belled plant?

He cast his eyes around him, the jungle, once fairly normal aside from the over sized plants, had morphed into something far worse. Limbs reached claw like for him, leaves had developed gaping maws. He knew if he was there for even a second longer that everything would come at him.

The thing holding him dragged him kicking and screaming out of the jungle and into the crisp Gotham air, tinged with the smell of the bay.

Damian was dropped onto the ground and the things limbs began tearing at Damian’s burned Robin uniform. He scrambled backwards trying to get away, but he was pulled back. He lost the fight against the thing, his muscles tired and body aching and still burning. If it wanted to take off the burning fabric, he didn’t want to stop it.

Panic gripped him again when the thing grabbed him off the ground and made a leap for the bay. It was going to drown him. He’d gone from being plant food to captured by a strange thing, and now dragged into the depths of the bay.

They hit the water together, Damian doing his best to hold his breath against the shocking coldness of it. He was pulled to the surface, and both he and--he wasn’t sure what had him anymore, came coughing into the air.

“Please don’t fight me on this.” the figure was saying, one hand already running through Damian’s hair, glove soaked in water, “I can’t get the acid off, keep you floating, and fight against assassin instincts.”

Damian spluttered, confused. He was cold, shaking down to his bones, but his head had started to feel lighter, clearer. Rough gloves rubbed against his arms and dunked him once, and twice, under the water, each time Damian felt a little better as gunk was dislodged.

He helped the thing, person, maybe Batman? He helped them work the acid off his skin where it had clung, treading water and rubbing madly at his neck then foot.

“Feeling better?” it was Grayson’s voice, heavy with worry.

Damian blinked and tried to make the vision of a black blob fade so he could tell if it was really his brother holding him.

“M-maybe.” He said, teeth chattering.

He allowed himself to be pulled out of the water, Batman, he was going to view the figure as Batman, carrying him. Damian wrapped his arms around his middle as he was set on his feet. Batman knelt before him, and pulled his cowl back. Grayson looked at him, face open and worried.

His hands took Damian’s face and turned it, thumb brushing at a tender spot on Damian’s jaw where the breathing mask had been destroyed and acid had gotten in.

Then Grayson pulled Damian into a tight hug. He held him for a long moment. Damian could feel the man’s shuddering breaths, even through the heavy Kevlar of the batsuit.

“I’m sorry,” Grayson said, his breath warm against Damian’s ear, “I tried to get to you as soon as I could.”

He pulled back and reached down to lift his cape from the ground. Grayson shook it out before he wrapped it tightly around Damian’s shoulders. It was a comforting weight, heavy, and warm. Damian grasped it with both hands and held it close to help still the shivers running through his body.

It hit him then, his failure. Damian looked down at his bare feet, and caught sight of his ruined uniform, burned all over with little holes where the acid had been eating away at it. He swallowed and squeezed his eyes closed.

His great chance to prove he was ready for harder field work had gone about as bad as he could imagine it could. It had gone so terribly he feared Grayson would determine him so incompetent he no longer deserved Robin. Damian had ruined the uniform after all, and made a mockery of the name in front of one of Batman’s more dangerous villains.

Damian did not want to lose Robin. He squeezed the cape tight, white knuckled. He did not want to be sent back to Mother or have patrol taken away from him forever. It was all he had. All that held him tethered to his father and the legacy he’d been taught all his life would be his.

He pulled the cape off his shoulders and held it in his hands, worrying it between his fingers, “I am fine.” he said, trying to keep his voice from shaking, “I can manage.” he thrust the cape towards Grayson.

His brother looked baffled, then concern knit his brows, “Are you still seeing things?”

Damian shook his head, there was still a strange buzzing in his head, and if he let his focus on Grayson fall he thought his brother might look off, but he was mostly back to himself, “I am not so weak that I need a security blanket.”

He offered the cape again, and Grayson took it. Damian felt his stomach fall a little at that, he was shivering again, and he did not want to move back to the car or go home with a little protection as his undergarments provided. But he took hope that perhaps he would be give a chance to prove himself like this.

Then Grayson immediately threw the cape back over Damian’s shoulders and moved to snap it closed, secure around Damian’s neck.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“You’re obviously still feeling effects from the toxin.” Grayson said, “Either that or hypothermia sets in a lot faster than I remember.”

“I told you I am fine. Allow me to prove--”

“Damian.” Grayson said, exasperated, “You don’t have to prove anything to me.”

Damian frowned at him, hands curling into fists. He did. He needed to show Grayson that tonight had been a fluke, that he could stand up to difficult foes and protect his Batman when he needed to.

Grayson seemed to read this argument on Damian’s face, he had gotten rather good at predicting what Damian was going to say, “Dames,” he said gently, like he did when Damian told him about some aspect of his previous training, “You don’t think that because we had a little trouble tonight I’m going to send you home, do you?”

Damian’s looked down, as if his bare feet were fascinating. He did not want to admit it. Did not want to hear the not-pity in Grayson’s voice at his assumption.

“Kiddo, I could tell you stories of tangles with Ivy that have gone far worse than tonight. Besides, if anyone messed up today it was me.”

Damian’s head shot up at this, and he shook it, “You did not allow yourself to be captured and then--” his throat seemed to close up at the admittance that he had almost been plant food.

Grayson ran a hand through Damian’s hair, “No, but I let you fall into incredible danger and that’s worse. We’re partners, and as much as you feel you should protect me, I owe you the same thing. I failed in that tonight.”

“You got me out.” Damian said, finding the words a rush to console the hurt on Grayson’s face, “And you prevented the acid from doing too much damage. It was I who was too slow to react.”

Too afraid to keep hold of his batarangs. Too frightened to see Grayson for who he was when he was being rescued. There was a bruise beginning to form on Grayson’s jaw that Damian was sure he’d caused.

He tugged the cape a bit tighter around himself, savoring the warmth and comforting pressure on his arms, “I will be more prepared the next time we face Ivy.” he promised.

“I’m sure you will.” Grayson smiled, “And I’ll keep you closer to me so you don’t end up dangled or almost plant food again.”

Damian shuddered at the recent memory, too close to be a joke.

“Let’s go home.” Grayson said, and scooped Damian into his arms. He snatched up the ruined uniform and let it dangle from his fingers as he stood, “You need to get out of this air, and we both need to get dry and in warm clothes.”

Damian nuzzled his head into Grayson’s neck, and relaxed into the hold, breathing evenly for what felt like the first time since the first set of vines had lashed out at him.

“You did really good tonight.” Grayson said, moving back towards the Batmobile, “You held your own well, and then even in danger you managed to keep your head enough to warn me.”

Blush crept across Damian’s cheeks, perhaps he had not done as terribly as he had assumed. The praise was nice in the face of all the terrible things that had happened that night.

As they drove back to the bunker Grayson detailed out how the rest of the fight with Ivy had gone, finding Damian, and his decision to dive into the bay with Damian. Apparently he’d been absolutely covered in some kind of fluid from the plant, kicking and screaming about monsters and man eating plants.

It was thoroughly embarrassing. Damian was comforted to know that not only had the plant been acidic, but it had been toxic as well. The fluid had contained something to cause hallucinations in its prey.

When they arrived back at the bunker, Damian took an extra long shower, scrubbing at every inch of his body to make sure no residual plant goo was left on him. It stung a little, the water and the scrubbing across the patches of skin where Damian had been burned by the acid, but that was an easy trade off for the knowledge that he was clean.

Then he let the water wash over him soothing sore muscles, strained from his fighting, and working out the cold that had set in during their dip in the bay. He let his mind wander, and let go of the lingering fears still teasing him about terrifying plants and being suffocated inside petals.

He hoped that with the toxin off his skin, and some distance from the fight he’d be able to sleep, but every time he closed his eyes he felt tight vines across his arms, and burning on his skin.

Damian could not stand the thought of falling asleep and being trapped in a dream where he might be attacked by Ivy’s plants again. He threw his blankets back and considered bothering Grayson about the topic. His brother had told him multiple times that he could bother him at night if he was having trouble sleeping. He was also usually upset when Damian did not seek him out and got no sleep because of it.

The feeling of something coming after him was enough to drive thoughts of weakness to the back of Damian’s mind in favor of a little comfort.

He padded to Grayson’s room and opened the door without preamble. He was tired. Exhausted from everything and he wanted to feel safe and secure. The best way to achieve that was to allow Grayson to offer it.

“Grayson.” Damian whispered, approaching his brother’s bed, “I have need of your assistance.”

“Hmm wha?” Grayson blinked at him, eyes bleary, “Dames?”

“I cannot sleep.” Damian said. “I believe the toxin from the plant might still be affecting my mind.”

His brother pulled back his blankets and scooted to make room for Damian to fit on the bed. Damian did not hesitate to join him, crawling int and curling into his brother’s chest. Grayson tucked the blankets back around them and wrapped his arms around Damian, snuggling him even closer.

“Better?” Grayson asked, voice still heavy with sleep.

Damian nodded into his chest, already feeling much of the tension in his neck and shoulders easing.

“Grayson?” Damian asked after a moment.

“Hmm?”

“Did you ever--Were you--how did you react to Ivy’s plants the first time you encountered them?”

This question seemed to wake Grayson up more, “Still shaken up from today?” he asked, shifting so he could look at Damian in the bit of moonlight streaming in.

Damian pressed his lips together, “I believed myself to be prepared for her, but--”

“But plants shouldn’t move that way?” Grayson provided.

“Yes.”

“Yeah, it’s weird. I guess you get used to it, but it takes a while. Bruce had to bribe me with all kinds of things just to get me to go camping again after my first run in with her. I kept thinking the trees were going to eat me or purposefully trip me.”

That admission was comforting. Damian would not admit it, but it was. If he told Grayson it meant also telling him that he had come to respect and look up to the man. Grayson’s head was big enough as it was, and Damian did not wish to puff it up with praise.

He let a hand curl into his brother’s shirt instead, “Father used to take you camping?”

Grayson nodded and pulled Damian in closer, so he could rest his chin on Damian’s head. It was a nice feeling, being pulled in and engulfed in an embrace Damian wished to share. A stark contrast to the tight, horrible, feeling of vines wrapped around him.

“In the summer mostly. Sometimes we camped in the backyard, sometimes we’d head out to Colorado or Nevada, to get away from all the baddies for a while.” Grayson’s voice was wistful, the memories good, “My favorite part was making s’mores over the fire.”

“S’mores?” Damian asked, “Are those some kind of special camping food for energy?”

Grayson laughed, the laugh shaking Damian’s chest, “Kind of, they’ve got enough sugar for it.”

“Sugar is not a good solution for long term energy.” Damian told him.

“No, but it’s a great treat. How about this? I’ll show you exactly what s’mores are this weekend. We can camp out behind the manor to start, then when I’ve had more time to plan we can go somewhere.”

“Will there be survival missions? Or hunting?” Damian asked.

Grayson hummed, “Maybe hunting, probably fishing though. It’s actually a lot of fun to eat what you catch. But no missions, this’ll be all fun. What do you think?”

“As long as there are no giant plants I believe it will be a valuable learning experience.”

Damian found himself squeezed closer in what was a hug, and Grayson pressed a kiss to his hair, “No giant plants, I promise.”

“Good.” Damian said, yawning, “Then we will go camping next weekend.”


End file.
